


Spark

by orphan_account



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 02:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day Shiny Chariot let go of that rod, she thought she'd never see the light of those stars again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heartsinhay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsinhay/gifts).



She couldn't remember how late it was, but everyone else had long turned in for the night. Deep into the labyrinth below the tower, she clutched the wrapped rod close to her chest. Silently, she found the room she'd been looking for. This room was different from the others. It lacked the cold feel of the other areas, despite the litter of discarded, worthless items that piled high towards the ceiling. Unwrapping the rod, she found a suitable corner to leave her own contribution to the broken mess. Her hands let go with a sort of gentleness that echoed the warmth of the rest of the room. The moment it left her touch, the last of the fire inside herself faded with the seven stars of her rod. Her hands were tempted to caress her signature weapon once more, run her fingers over the beautiful jewels that lined it. But they were empty now. If she raised it now, she was certain she could produce no magic with it. 

"No more," she whispered under her breath. The woman who had been known as Shiny Chariot straightened her new robes and returned to her room to prepare for her first day of teaching. She'd become nobody, a name no one bothered to whisper cruel things of nor one to be cheered. Mixed in with the pain, a part of her felt a sense of liberation. There would be no more extravaggant shows and no more heavy expectations. Background, normal. Maybe she could get used to this.

The other witches didn't really believe in the message she sent. They never had. She'd kept it up as long as she could. The excitement in the faces of her audience had kept her going, especially the joy she saw in the eyes of the children who'd sit impatiently in the crowd. She wanted to give them a view of magic disconnected from what was taught in textbooks and preached about. There was more--a magic that solely existed from within that no training nor studying could bring out. There had been a time when she thought she'd be able to hold on to that kind of magic power forever.

Everyone has their limits. She was no different. Her heart soared with every smile and sense of wonder she saw in a child's eyes. And it sank with every bit of pressure that the world she was lifting those girls into pushed back down on her. Her last performance had been noticably weaker than what she used to do on a regular basis. The crowd's feedback reflected more than what she could see in her Shiny Rod's stars. Something wasn't the same. The show after that had to be cancelled. Nearly all the light had gone. She'd raised the rod, tried every spell she knew, and nothing. After several days of trying, she excepted the obvious. The way things were, she'd never do magic again with it.

Dejected, she'd taken her leave from the eye of the public and visited every magical hot spot she knew of. No one could bring the magic back into the Shiny Rod. The last place she'd visited, the Luna Nova Academy, had been no different. Her last bit of hope finally died then.

It was then the headmistress had offered her a job. "If you're not all flash, I could use another instructor here."

"Teach? But what if I can't do magic right at all anymore?" 

"Well, I suspect the Shiny Rod may never be used for magic again, but that doesn't mean you can't do magic at all. You are a witch, are you not? Perhaps it's time for a new tool. Here, try using one of the school's wands." The headmistress tossed her one of the school issued wands.

in her hand, the magic flowed out of the wand with ease. Somewhere deep down, she had hoped it wouldn't. She could still do magic, and that meant everything if she wanted to keep any sort of place among other witches. But her ease with this only drove into her harder the reason she couldn't use the Shiny Rod.

Still, something is better than nothing. "I'll take the job."

"Good. But you'll need to change that look of yours. You'll draw too much attention here as 'Shiny Chariot'."

"I'm retiring Shiny Chariot." Taking the wand, she tapped a strand of her flaming red hair, transforming the color. "I'll work on the rest of my new look before I start teaching."

The early teaching days were a haze of apathy. Following in the daily routines and teaching the lessons she had once mocked, it wasn't as bad as she'd presumed. The students were still learning magic, even if it hadn't been how or for the reasons she wanted. She watched them excel and leave to become great witches like she'd aspired to be at their age. A tiny spark filled her every now and then, a much dimmer version of what had once overflown within. 

At times, she'd absentmindedly raise her hands and pretend to fire an arrow. Closing her eyes, she could vaguely remember how it used to feel. The power surging from her heart to her hands, the release as that magic swept through her and filled the air, the sparkling light that danced across the sky...She never thought she'd ever witness that display again.

But there, after all those years, was the Shiny Arc. A young girl from a non-witch family who was a professed fan of Chariot but mostly a failure with magic had not only made the Shiny Rod fill with magic again, she'd gotten the rod to transform for her. Akko, that determined child. When she'd presented her with the rod, she'd already lit up the seven stars without even meaning to. All it took was a little encouragement at the right moment, and the sky was filled with that beautiful light once more. For the first time in years, she'd allowed her hair to turn back to it's true red shade and spoken those lines she'd delivered so often to her cheering fans. And like back then, she could feel the heat of a fire burning deeply within her chest as Akko performed the Shiny Arc. There was that missing feeling, filling her as the display of fireworks covered the destruction beneath them.

Smiling, she mused to herself over the path that girl might take. _Maybe she can hold on to that spark._

Most of all, she was grateful. After the incident with the dragon, the tower was in ruins but all of the students and staff were safe. She had been able to get one more performance out as Shiny Chariot, and though she may not have been the one to release that arrow, she felt the depth of the magic that had escaped through the air. Akko still had a long way to go, but the potential she sensed there in that girl was beyond what she'd had when she was young. Pride filled her knowing that she'd been the one to spark that love of magic in that child long ago as Chariot, and that she'd be there to cultivate it further as her teacher. The message she used to spread had survived somewhere after all this time, even when she'd given up on it herself. Her heart relearning what she'd lost, she was certain this time that magic wouldn't fade from her again.


End file.
